Choosing a Trading Platform: The Essentials
Choosing the platform you’re going to trade from is not something you should take lightly. After all, you’re going to be staring at it day-in, day-out, for potentially hours at a time. It’s got to work for you, or you could well be inhibiting your own success. Here we’re going to take a look at four of the most important factors that we think you should consider when you’re trying to decide which of the many platforms available, is the right one for you.
Features
Probably the most obvious factor is going to be the different features that a particular platform offers you. These days, most will certainly have the same kinds of things on them – the same tools, and the same orders. However, if you’re looking at a proprietary platform from a smaller broker, there is a chance that things will be missing, and it can be quite annoying having to leave the platform and go on another app to access a different tool, like some additional charting software. Brokers like FxPro have a helpful page to let you quickly compare the different platforms that they offer.
Reliability
Reliability is incredibly important indeed, and something that people do often forget to think about. There’s obvious reliability in terms of how things are working in the back – ensuring your trades are happening when they happen, and that connection to your broker never goes down. But then there’s also simple software reliability. Do reviewers ever complain that the platform has crashed or frozen for them? Any time this happens is potentially money lost, so make sure you’re going with a good product in this regard.
User Interface
This is about more than just whether or not you think the user interface looks nice (though that is important!). It’s about how well things are laid out on the screen and how intuitive the controls are to use. Do you get all of the information you need easily by looking at one or two screens? Do you have to make many clicks to get to different areas of the application? Generally this is going to be down to personal preference, so it’s a good idea to try out a few to see which ones you like using the most. There are demo versions of just about any platform available, so you can play around without actually risking any of your hard-earned capital.
Device Compatibility
Long gone are the days of having to phone up your broker to make a trade, but equally, long gone are the days in which all traders sat in front of a computer to monitor their positions. Here in 2015, mobile forex applications are the name of the game, and if you want to be able to trade anytime, anywhere, then you’re going to need to go with a platform that offers a smartphone or tablet version. Most of the big ones do these days, but it’s still worth bearing in mind.
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